UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday said transgender women should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports, BBC News reports.
"I don't think biological males should be competing in female sporting events. Maybe that's a controversial thing to say, but it just seems to me to be sensible," Johnson said during a visit to a local hospital.
The prime minister’s use of "biological males," refers to transgender women, but the phrase has been criticized as offensive and derogatory by some.
Johnson’s comments came one day after cyclist Emily Bridges, a transgender woman, said she had been "harassed and demonized" after being excluded from the U.K.’s National Omnium Championships last weekend after the global cycling governing body deemed her ineligible.
The prime minister also said he thinks women "should have spaces, whether it's in hospitals or prisons or changing rooms or wherever, which are dedicated to women. That's as far as my thinking has developed on this issue. If that puts me in conflict with some others, then we have got to work it all out."
He went on to say, "That doesn't mean that I'm not immensely sympathetic to people who want to change gender, to transition. It's vital that we give people the maximum possible love and support in making those decisions. But these are complex issues and I don't think they can be solved with one swift, easy piece of legislation. It takes a lot of thought to get this right."
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